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Loving your neighbors, the immigrant farm workers

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Jim Renfrew is pastor of Byron Presbyterian Church in upstate New York. That’s “a very rural, conservative area” between Buffalo and Rochester, he said, and one where “it’s not easy to take an advocacy position on immigration.” Renfrew has found ways, however, to get involved with immigration work in his community and to keep the issue before his “purple” congregation – not so much by preaching about policy, but about telling stories to his congregation about the immigrants he’s met. “I think that’s the most effective way to humanize the story,” he said. “We’re talking about people who live in our neighborhood. We can fool ourselves into thinking that our neighborhood is homogenous. But the reality is there are a lot of farm workers from other countries. Currently they’re keeping their heads down,” and may not be as visible at the corner market and gas stations. Whether you see them or not, “our agricultural industry depends on these workers. These are the people who make the … [Read more...]

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PC(USA), A Corporation digs into details of church governance

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PHILADELPHIA – A new global resources manager will start work Oct. 28 with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – overseeing work on translation and interpretation into languages other than English. There’s work being done on beefing up cybersecurity for the denomination; on revising the real estate policy used when the denomination sells or transfers property it no longer needs; and on updating the employee handbook to make policies more consistent across the agencies. And, as always, there’s the budget – and the reality that, as Presbyterian put it, “everybody’s after the same dollar” when money gets tight. All of this was part of the discussion as the board of the PC(USA), A Corporation – the corporate entity for the Office of the General Assembly (OGA) and the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) – met in Philadelphia Oct. 24-25, at the offices of the Presbyterian Historical Society, where the board took a tour and had a chance to peek a bit into the archives. Here’s more of what … [Read more...]

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Unified budget discussions will explore ways to fund the denomination

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The Moving Forward Implementation Commission has initiated a process for trying to develop a unified approach for budgeting for 2021-2022 – calling for a “one-day summit” on budget needs that would involve representatives from the Presbyterian Mission Agency, the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation. That action – taken Oct. 17 during the commission’s two-day meeting in Baltimore – represents a continuation of conversations regarding financial sustainability in the PC(USA). The Office of the General Assembly (OGA), which is funded through per capita dollars, is feeling financial pressure — and the PC(USA)’s stated clerk, J. Herbert Nelson, has emphasized the need to come up with a funding system that makes sure OGA has sufficient funds to do the ecclesiastical work of the denomination. Members of the Special Committee on Per Capita Based Funding and National Church Financial Sustainability have raised the possibility of … [Read more...]

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What might replace per capita?  PC(USA) stated clerk urges consideration of new funding system

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J. Herbert Nelson, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is stressing the urgency of coming up with a new funding system for the denomination that ensures that the Office of the General Assembly has enough money to do the ecclesiastical work of the church. There also is a call emerging to quickly pull together some sort of high level work group – either a per capita table of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board, or some less formal configuration – to consider possible structural changes in the PC(USA), to work through financial issues and to present a unified budget to the 2020 General Assembly. Nelson joined an Oct. 2 video conference call of the Financial Sustainability work team of the Special Committee on Per Capita Based Funding and National Church Financial Sustainability — a committee that the 2018 General Assembly created. That work team has already been discussing the possibility of denominational … [Read more...]

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A storm called race

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STONY POINT, New York – “We are in the season of storms.” Kevin Johnson, a Presbyterian Mission Agency Board member and a minister from Detroit, led worship for the board Sept. 27 by asking whether the foundation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is solid – or cracked by its connection to racism. Confronting structural racism – one three focuses of the Matthew 25 vision of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) – is the theme of the board’s fall meeting, which goes through Sept. 27 at Stony Point Center. In August 1619, a ship from Africa approached land near Port Comfort, in the English colony of Virginia, where 20-some Africans were taken off in chains and sold into slavery. “This time, the storm raged into this new country called America,” Johnson said. “I submit to you, this storm has been stationary” – hovering over the nation for 400 years and counting. “Come on! Preach it!” board and PMA staff members responded, as Johnson’s sermon caught fire. Many of those … [Read more...]

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Board approves initial spending to redevelop Stony Point Center

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STONY POINT, New York – Wanting to invest in the hope of Presbyterian transformation, the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board voted to support the first steps of a plan for significant redevelopment of Stony Point Center. Stony Point Center is a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) conference center located about an hour north of New York City – a place that’s home to a multifaith community of Christians, Muslims and Jews, and has a track record of commitment to justice, peacemaking and earth care. The board voted to “affirm the basic direction” of a 75-page vision plan for Stony Point – a report that’s the work of the Run River Enterprises consulting firm and that calls for making at least $10.3 million in capital improvements at Stony Point over the next decade. The board’s vote Sept. 27, following a closed-session discussion, does not commit major dollars yet – the financial starting point is in endorsing the baseline phase totals of $295,000: providing $220,000 for … [Read more...]

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